Living in Seattle

Seattle is rapidly becoming a world-class walkable city. SoundTransit’s new light rail line connects the city and to the airport. People are relocating to Seattle for jobs at companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Starbucks.

Seattle is ringed by the Olympic and Cascade mountains and surrounded by Lake Washington and Puget Sound. Seattle neighborhood architecture ranges from single family homes in Wallingford to high-rise downtown apartments.

Eating & Drinking

People in Seattle can walk to an average of 2 restaurants, bars and coffee shops in 5 minutes.

Golden Gardens Boat Ramp

Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria - Stone Way

Restaurant Choices Map

= More Choices

The curtain wall at the downtown SPL was engineered specifically for this unique building by Rem Koolhaas | OMA. The perforated sheet metal creates static louvers that allow light in from some angles and not others to keep heating and cooling the building efficient. I highly recommend a tour of this fascinating building! #architecture #architectural-tour #donotmiss

Hills

Bike Commuters

Crime in Seattle

Each year in Seattle, 8 violent crimes and 60 property crimes occur per 1,000 people.

Use our crime maps to find an apartment for rent in a safe Seattle neighborhood.

Pick a neighborhood to see crime maps or type an address to see the Crime Grade for that location.

What's It Like to Live in Seattle?

Capitol Hill

International District

Gas Works Park

Westlake Park

Overview

Seattle is evolving into a world-class walkable city. SoundTransit’s light rail line connects the city to the airport and express bus lines mean that that the neighborhoods are increasingly attractive for those working downtown or in Bellevue and Redmond.

Seattle’s bigger employers are tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, but the region is also home to coffee giant Starbucks, dozens of smaller forward thinking interactive design shops, and a handful of companies who make top notch outdoor gear. It’s not all tech and coffee, there are offices in Seattle for retailer Nordstrom, online real estate agencies Zillow and RedFin, and Brooks running shoes.

Seattle has been called the Jet City – it’s the birthplace of Boeing, The Emerald City – it’s green, alright, and The Rain City because, yes, it does rain. That doesn’t keep Seattle residents from getting outside. The Olympic Range sits across Puget Sound to the West and the Cascades, where there’s winter skiing, are on the sunrise side to the east. There’s water everywhere, from park lined Puget Sound to the two city lakes, Lake Washington and smaller Lake Union in the heart of the city.

Seattle is an educated, bookish place, with about 60% of the population holding college degrees. It’s repeatedly ranked in top ten lists for literacy. Even though Amazon is here, there’s a thriving independent bookstore scene led by the Elliot Bay Bookstore. The spectacular new downtown library made international design news and dozens of famous writers hail from the Pacific Northwest.

Once you see the city when the Mountain (that’s Mt. Rainier) is out, you’ll get a full picture of why 600,000 people choose to call Seattle home. It’s got easy proximity to nature, interesting, livable neighborhoods, and a range of employment possibilities. There’s a remarkable array of culture and art – including a still very much alive music scene – and the weather, while it does live up to its bad reputation, doesn’t keep the residents from making the most of what’s here. Seattle has a vocal, politically active population that’s singularly focused on keeping the city pedestrian, bicycle, and transit friendly, even while it grows.

The Center for Wooden Boats

Landmark Egyptian

Getting Around

This is a hilly city, but it supports a community of committed cyclists who have strong legs and own rain gear. There’s a continually expanding network of bike trails. Seattle is betting on bikes by adding the Puget Sound Bike Share program in 2014 and by stocking the program with 7 gear cycles rather than the 3 gear bikes that flatter cities provide. Metro buses have bike racks, though you may find it’s easier to leave the bike locked up at the bus stop during the summer on popular routes than it is to wait for a bus with an empty slot. This is especially true at the Montake commuter stop across the 520 bridge where the express buses stop before heading to Microsoft.

Car sharing is popular in this walkable city too, there’s Car2Go and ZipCar. Because Seattle has so many transportation options, a car-free life in Seattle is very possible, though lots of Seattleites choose to own a vehicle to get access to the great natural playground and national parks that make the Pacific Northwest such an attractive place to live.

While the city has easy access to wild nature, there are also dozens of urban parks that take advantage of the Northwest ecosystem. Discovery Park in Magnolia has miles of trails on the bluffs and along the Puget Sound waterfront. From the water tower in Volunteer Park, you can look West to the Olympics or East to see the downtown Bellevue skyline. Seward Park to the south has views of Mt Rainier – a handful of rowing clubs have their boathouses on Lake Washington just north of Seward Park. The Olympic Sculpture Park opened in 2007 and while it’s a showcase for modern art, the views highlight the region’s natural beauty.

Hell yes, Seattle.

Dave Peckon Golden Gardens Park

Neighborhoods

Seattle’s neighborhoods all have distinctive character. Downtown is increasingly livable with the construction of new highrise apartment blocks. Resident have historically done their shopping at the world famous Pike Place Market, but there’s now a regular supermarket and a Target, addressing the practical needs of those who chose the heart of the city as their home. At one end, Pioneer Square has cool lofts in restored brick buildings and at the other end, there’s Belltown and the Waterfront where there’s the latest in luxury apartments with fitness centers and roof gardens and fitness facilities for the residents.

Jackson Street used to draw a line between Seattle’s Chinese and Japanese neighborhoods; now the whole area is referred to as the International District. When the line is completed, the First Hill Streetcar will run right down the middle of Jackson, bordered by Asian supermarkets and restaurants that include Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Thai, Malaysian, and more. Keep going east to the Central District, and the menu shifts to Ethiopian and Soul food.

Capitol Hill is the city’s densest neighborhood, partly because it’s where you’ll find the easiest commute to the East Side. Housing comes in all shapes and sizes, there are new micro-housing complexes, gorgeously remodeled brick apartment buildings, and the occasional single family Craftsman style home. The once gritty Pike Pine corridor is developing into a hub for some of the city’s finest restaurants and bars. It’s an easy downhill walk from Capitol Hill to downtown, though you may want to take the bus on the uphill return trip.

The University District is by the University of Washington, home to a well respected medical school and the Husky football team. It’s got all the things you’d expect from a college neighborhood – cheap eats, funky second hand stores, great transit, and apartment buildings that rent to students who choose to live off campus. Just west of the U-District, there’s Wallingford where there are more single family homes on the tree lined streets. This is a great neighborhood for families with kids and the main avenues have supermarkets, restaurants, movie theaters… all the stuff you’d like to have walking distance from your front door.

Georgetown Trailer Park Mall

Meridian Park

Pike Place Market

Dragons on Lampposts

Ballard, north and to the west of downtown, is evolving into Seattle’s new super hip neighborhood. Some Ballard commuters leave their cars at the Park and Ride lots near the freeway and use Metro to get to the East side – it’s an easy ride on the bus into downtown, though. Ballard has new townhomes and larger apartment blocks with supermarkets at the ground level, and it’s also home to some very nice parks – the Ballard Locks and Golden Gardens, where the beach is crowded when the weather is good.

Queen Anne is almost two neighborhoods. In Upper Queen Anne (made up of West, East, and North), there are boutique shops and cute cafes and while there are some great apartments, there are also grand old single family homes here with Victorian and Craftsman detailing. Lower Queen Anne wraps around Seattle Center, home to Chihuly Garden and Glass, the Experience Music Project, the Children’s Museum, and Seattle’s big music festivals, Bumbershoot and Folklife. There are lots of lower brick apartment blocks here, several supermarkets including one for more gourmet focused shoppers, and restaurants that range from pricy to pub. The Gates Foundation has its headquarters in lower Queen Anne, right across the street from Seattle’s iconic Space Needle.

West Seattle is its own small town in the city. The Elliot Bay Water Taxi runs from downtown to Alki Beach. An amusement park stood here nearly a century ago, now the waterfront strip has restaurants, cafes, and spectacular views of the downtown skyline. West Seattle’s small business districts receive loyal support from neighborhood locals and living close to an express bus line makes for a very short commute into the city.

Find Seattle apartments with views of the Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound and Lake Union. Find a Queen Anne studio apartment with a view of the Space Needle, walk downtown Seattle from your one bedroom condo on Capitol Hill, or share a college home rental in the University District near the University of Washington. Families will love family friendly Seattle neighborhoods such as Ballard and Magnolia, and Seattle's east side in Bellevue.

45% of Seattle residents rent their homes in the Emerald City. Search Walk Score for Seattle apartments for rent by commute time, access to Seattle Metro Transit and proximity to the nearest Seattle Starbucks Coffee.

I don’t know who started this trend but the idea stuck, literally. Check out the pounds of used gum on this colorful wall and add some of your own to it. #publicart Photo: Zorlone